SATURDAY Night Live has been hit by a major shake-up which has divided long-term fans of the hit show.
For a sketch show that’s been running for over five decades, viewers are used to goodbyes, but amid some major hires and fires, it’s clear that Saturday Night Live (SNL) Season 51 is going to look a little different.
What is the SNL cast for Season 51?
While some familiar faces are leaving, SNL have introduced some exciting new cast members, brimming with talent and sure to make fans laugh.
On the official SNL Instagram, the show runners unveiled their latest batch of laughmakers, welcoming Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska to the team.
Veronika Slowikowska is the only woman to be added to the cast this year[/caption]
Ben will be a welcome name on the list, as the funnyman has been a writer on SNL since 2021.
The cast may look a little different this season, but there are still 16 cast members returning for another season.
The full returning cast is:
- Michael Che,
- Mikey Day
- Andrew Dismukes
- Chloe Fineman
- Marcello Hernandez
- James Austin Johnson
- Colin Jost,
- Ego Nwodim
- Sarah Sherman,
- Kenan Thompson
- Bowen Yang
- Ashley Padilla
- Jane Wickline
Who has left SNL?
SNL veteran Heidi Gardner has announced she is leaving the show, sending shockwaves through the viewership.
Speculation started about a potential exit for the fan favourite after a podcast interview on Joy with Craig Ferguson, in which she said: “I will say the only thing that I’ve started to feel a little bit is just sketch fatigue, or idea fatigue.
Heidi Gardner is exiting the show after 8 years[/caption]
Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim are all making a shock exit[/caption]
“At this point, after doing Groundlings and SNL for so long, I’m like ‘I’ve written a lot of sketches’.”
Gardner has been on the show since 2017 and in her time has created some of the shows most iconic characters.
Alongside her, more recent cast members Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim are also making their exit.
While Gardner’s exit seemed to be by choice, for Wakim, he described his departure as a “gut punch”.
Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker, who were both writers on the show, are also departing Saturday Night Live.
Yim was a part of the SNL writing room for five years. They joined the show in 2020 and were promoted to writing supervisor in 2023.
Lorne Michaels is the executive producer of the long-running sketch show[/caption]
SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels teased in an August 22 interview with Puck News that he intended to revamp the decades-old series, but with all the sackings and exits, its caused some to label the hit show as a “toxic” environment.
When does Season 51 begin?
With all the comings and goings, this is set to be one of the biggest cast shake-ups in recent years, and is also going to be one of the largest casts too.
As a result, there’s so much anticipation building for what is set to be the start of the next half a century of laughs.
The 51st season will premiere on October 4 at 11:30 pm ET on NBC. It will also stream on Peacock the next day.
